Table Of Content‘Lemma has become one of the modern leaders in psychoanalysis. Her contribution
to understanding this most fundamental of psychoanalytic concerns – our
relationship to our bodies – has been immense and is growing. This book is an
essential source of inspiration for clinicians to help them listen to and hear their
patients’ deepest concerns more clearly. An extraordinary achievement.’
Peter Fonagy, Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis and
Head of the Research Department of Clinical, Educational and
Health Psychology, University College London, UK.
‘In this insightful and innovative book Alessandra Lemma revisits and explores
further some of the subjects she considered in Under the Skin, her psychoanalytic
study of body modi(cid:191) cation, whilst also addressing new subjects such as
transsexuality, hair and the analyst’s toilet. The author is at her (cid:192) uent best as she
examines how we ascribe meaning to experience through our bodies, and attempts
to illustrate how the analyst can help patients re-integrate mind and body.
Lemma makes clever use of British object relations theory, lending a sound
theoretical frame of reference to her discourse. Her book is brimming with clinical
material of the most fascinating kind. To date there has perhaps been a denial of
the signi(cid:191) cance of the body in psychoanalytic literature, and the author attempts
to challenge this attitude through her highly original arguments. This is an
innovative approach to a fascinating subject. I defy any book browser to peruse its
tantalising chapter titles and not want to read the whole book. Minding the Body
is a must read.’
Antonino Ferro, President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society and
Consultant Associate Editor of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis.
He is a training and supervising analyst in the Italian Psychoanalytic Society,
the American Psychoanalytic Association and the International
Psychoanalytical Association.
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Minding the Body
Minding the Body: The body in psychoanalysis and beyond outlines the value of a
psychoanalytic approach to understanding the body and its vicissitudes and for
addressing these in the context of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psycho-
analysis. The chapters cover a broad but esoteric range of subjects that are not
often discussed within psychoanalysis such as the function of breast augmentation
surgery, the psychic origins of hair, the use made of the analyst’s toilet,
transsexuality and the connection between dermatological conditions and
necrophilic fantasies. The book also reaches ‘beyond the couch’ to consider the
nature of reality television makeover shows.
The book is based on Alessandra Lemma’s extensive clinical experience as a
psychoanalyst and psychologist working in a range of public and private health
care settings with patients for whom the body is the primary presenting problem
or who have made unconscious use of the body to communicate their psychic
pain. Minding the Body draws on detailed clinical examples that vividly illustrate
how the author approaches these clinical presentations in the consulting room and,
as such, provides insights for the practising clinician that will support their
attempts at formulating patients’ dif(cid:191) culties psychoanalytically and suggest how
to help such patients. It will be essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychologists,
psychiatrists, mental health workers, academics and literary readers interested in
the body, sexuality and gender.
Alessandra Lemma is Director of the Psychological Therapies Development Unit at
the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. She is a Consultant Adult
Psychotherapist at the Portman Clinic. She is also a Fellow of the British Psycho-
analytical Society, Visiting Professor in the Psychoanalysis Unit at University College
London and Honorary Professor of Psychological Therapies in the School of Health
and Human Sciences at Essex University. She is the Clinical Director of the
Psychological Interventions Research Centre at UCL, Visiting Professor at Istituto
Winnicott, Sapienza University of Rome and Centro Winnicot, Rome. Professor
Lemma is Editor of the New Library of Psychoanalysis book series (Routledge) and
one of the regional editors for the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. She has
published extensively on psychoanalysis, the body and trauma.
The New Library of Psychoanalysis
General Editor: Alessandra Lemma
The New Library of Psychoanalysis was launched in 1987 in association with the
Institute of Psychoanalysis, London. It took over from the International Psycho-
analytical Library, which published many of the early translations of the works of
Freud and the writings of most of the leading British and Continental psychoanalysts.
The purpose of the New Library of Psychoanalysis is to facilitate a greater and
more widespread appreciation of psychoanalysis and to provide a forum for
increasing mutual understanding between psychoanalysts and those working in
other disciplines such as the social sciences, medicine, philosophy, history,
linguistics, literature and the arts. It aims to represent different trends both in
British psychoanalysis and in psychoanalysis generally. The New Library of
Psychoanalysis is well placed to make available to the English-speaking world
psychoanalytic writings from other European countries and to increase the
interchange of ideas between British and American psychoanalysts. Through the
Teaching Series, the New Library of Psychoanalysis now also publishes books
that provide comprehensive, yet accessible, overviews of selected subject areas
aimed at those studying psychoanalysis and related (cid:191) elds such as the social
sciences, philosophy, literature and the arts.
The Institute, together with the British Psychoanalytical Society, runs a low-fee
psychoanalytic clinic, organises lectures and scienti(cid:191) c events concerned with
psychoanalysis and publishes the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. It runs a
training course in psychoanalysis which leads to membership of the International
Psychoanalytical Association – the body which preserves internationally agreed
standards of training, of professional entry, and of professional ethics and practice for
psychoanalysis as initiated and developed by Sigmund Freud. Distinguished members
of the Institute have included Michael Balint, Wilfred Bion, Ronald Fairbairn, Anna
Freud, Ernest Jones, Melanie Klein, John Rickman and Donald Winnicott.
Previous general editors have included David Tuckett, who played a very active
role in the establishment of the New Library. He was followed as general editor
by Elizabeth Bott Spillius, who was in turn followed by Susan Budd and then by
Dana Birksted-Breen.
Current members of the Advisory Board include Liz Allison, Giovanna di
Ceglie, Rosemary Davies and Richard Rusbridger.
Previous members of the Advisory Board include Christopher Bollas, Ronald
Britton, Catalina Bronstein, Donald Campbell, Sara Flanders, Stephen Grosz,
John Keene, Eglé Laufer, Alessandra Lemma, Juliet Mitchell, Michael Parsons,
Rosine Jozef Perelberg, Mary Target and David Taylor.
Titles in this series
Impasse and Interpretation Herbert Rosenfeld
Psychoanalysis and Discourse Patrick Mahony
The Suppressed Madness of Sane Men M arion Milner
The Riddle of Freud Estelle Roith
Thinking, Feeling, and Being Ignacio Matte Blanco
The Theatre of the Dream Salomon Resnik
Melanie Klein Today: Volume 1, Mainly Theory E dited by Elizabeth Bott Spillius
Melanie Klein Today: Volume 2, Mainly Practice E dited by Elizabeth Bott Spillius
Psychic Equilibrium and Psychic Change: Selected Papers of Betty Joseph Edited by
Michael Feldman and Elizabeth Bott Spillius
About Children and Children-No-Longer: Collected Papers 1942–80 P aula Heimann.
Edited by Margret Tonnesmann
The Freud–Klein Controversies 1941– 45 Edited by Pearl King and Riccardo Steiner
Dream, Phantasy and Art H anna Segal
Psychic Experience and Problems of Technique Harold Stewart
Clinical Lectures on Klein & Bion E dited by Robin Anderson
From Fetus to Child Alessandra Piontelli
A Psychoanalytic Theory of Infantile Experience: Conceptual and Clinical Refl ections
E Gaddini. Edited by Adam Limentani
The Dream Discourse Today Edited and introduced by Sara Flanders
The Gender Conundrum: Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Femininity and
Masculinity E dited and introduced by Dana Breen
Psychic Retreats John Steiner
The Taming of Solitude: Separation Anxiety in Psychoanalysis J ean-Michel Quinodoz
Unconscious Logic: An Introduction to Matte Blanco’s Bi-logic and its Uses E ric Rayner
Understanding Mental Objects Meir Perlow
Life, Sex and Death: Selected Writings of William Gillespie E dited and introduced by
Michael Sinason
What Do Psychoanalysts Want?: The Problem of Aims in Psychoanalytic Therapy
Joseph Sandler and Anna Ursula Dreher
Michael Balint: Object Relations, Pure and Applied Harold Stewart
Hope: A Shield in the Economy of Borderline States Anna Potamianou
Psychoanalysis, Literature & War: Papers 1972–1995 H anna Segal
Emotional Vertigo: Between Anxiety and Pleasure D anielle Quinodoz
Early Freud and Late Freud Ilse Grubrich-Simitis
A History of Child Psychoanalysis Claudine and Pierre Geissmann
Belief and Imagination: Explorations in Psychoanalysis Ronald Britton
A Mind of One’s Own: A Psychoanalytic View of Self and Object Robert A Caper
Psychoanalytic Understanding of Violence and Suicide E dited by Rosine Jozef Perelberg
On Bearing Unbearable States of Mind R uth Riesenberg-Malcolm
Psychoanalysis on the Move: The Work of Joseph Sandler E dited by Peter Fonagy,
Arnold M. Cooper and Robert S. Wallerstein
The Dead Mother: The Work of André Green E dited by Gregorio Kohon
The Fabric of Affect in the Psychoanalytic Discourse André Green
The Bi-Personal Field: Experiences of Child Analysis Antonino Ferro
The Dove that Returns, the Dove that Vanishes: Paradox and Creativity in Psychoanalysis
Michael Parsons
Ordinary People, Extra-ordinary Protections: A Post Kleinian Approach to the Treatment
of Primitive Mental States J udith Mitrani
The Violence of Interpretation: From Pictogram to Statement Piera Aulagnier
The Importance of Fathers: A Psychoanalytic Re-Evaluation Judith Trowell and Alicia
Etchegoyen
Dreams That Turn Over a Page: Paradoxical Dreams in Psychoanalysis Jean-Michel
Quinodoz
The Couch and the Silver Screen: Psychoanalytic Refl ections on European Cinema
Andrea Sabbadini
In Pursuit of Psychic Change: The Betty Joseph Workshop E dited by Edith Hargreaves
and Arturo Varchevker
The Quiet Revolution in American Psychoanalysis: Selected Papers of Arnold M. Cooper
Arnold M. Cooper, Edited and Introduced by Elizabeth L. Auchincloss
Seeds of Illness and Seeds of Recovery: The genesis of suffering and the role of
psychoanalysis Antonino Ferro
The Work of Psychic Figurability: Mental States Without Representation C ésar Botella
and Sára Botella
Key Ideas for a Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Misrecognition and Recognition of the
Unconscious A ndré Green
The Telescoping of Generations: Listening to the Narcissistic Links Between Generations
Haydée Faimberg
Glacial Times: A Journey through the World of Madness Salomon Resnik
This Art of Psychoanalysis: Dreaming Undreamt Dreams and Interrupted Cries Thomas
H. Ogden
Psychoanalysis and Religion in the 21st Century: Competitors or Collaborators? David
M. Black
Recovery of the Lost Good Object Eric Brenman
The Many Voices of Psychoanalysis Roger Kennedy
Feeling the Words: Neuropsychoanalytic Understanding of Memory and the Unconscious
Mauro Mancia
Constructions and the Analytic Field: History, Scenes and Destiny Domenico Chianese
Projected Shadows: Psychoanalytic Refl ections on the Representation of Loss in European
Cinema Edited by Andrea Sabbadini
Encounters with Melanie Klein: Selected Papers of Elizabeth Spillius Elizabeth Spillius
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow H anna Segal
Psychoanalysis Comparable and Incomparable: The Evolution of a Method to Describe
and Compare Psychoanalytic Approaches D avid Tuckett, Roberto Basile, Dana
Birksted-Breen, Tomas Böhm, Paul Denis, Antonino Ferro, Helmut Hinz, Arne
Jemstedt, Paola Mariotti and Johan Schubert
Time, Space and Phantasy Rosine Jozef Perelberg
Rediscovering Psychoanalysis: Thinking and Dreaming, Learning and Forgetting T homas
H. Ogden
Mind Works: Techniques and Creativity in Psychoanalysis Antonino Ferro
Doubt Conviction and the Analytic Process: Selected Papers of Michael Feldman
Michael Feldman
Melanie Klein in Berlin: Her First Psychoanalyses of Children Claudia Frank
The Psychotic Wavelength: A Psychoanalytic Perspective for Psychiatry Richard Lucas
Betweenity: A Discussion of the Concept of Borderline J udy Gammelgaard
The Intimate Room: Theory and Technique of the Analytic Field Giuseppe Civitarese
Bion Today E dited by Chris Mawson
Secret Passages: The Theory and Technique of Interpsychic Relations S tefano Bolognini
Intersubjective Processes and the Unconscious: An Integration of Freudian, Kleinian and
Bionian Perspectives Lawrence J. Brown
Seeing and Being Seen: Emerging from a Psychic Retreat John Steiner
Avoiding Emotions, Living Emotions A ntonino Ferro
Projective Identifi cation: The Fate of a Concept Edited by Elizabeth Spillius and Edna
O’Shaughnessy
Creative Readings: Essays on Seminal Analytic Works Thomas Ogden
The Maternal Lineage Edited by Paola Mariotti
Donald Winnicott Today Edited by Jan Abram
Symbiosis and Ambiguity: A Psychoanalytic Study E dited by John Churcher, José Bleger
and Leopoldo Bleger
Psychotic Temptation Liliane Abensour
Supervision in Psychoanalysis: The Sao Paulo Seminars Antonino Ferro
Transference and Countertransference Today Robert Oelsner
Living Psychoanalysis: From Theory to Practice M ichael Parsons
Imaginary Existences: A psychoanalytic exploration of phantasy, fi ction, dreams and
daydreams Ignês Sodré, edited and with an Introduction by Priscilla Roth
Minding the Body: The Body in Psychoanalysis and Beyond A lessandra Lemma
TITLES IN THE NEW LIBRARY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
TEACHING SERIES
Reading Freud: A Chronological Exploration of Freud’s Writings Jean-Michel Quinodoz
Listening to Hanna Segal: Her Contribution to Psychoanalysis J ean-Michel Quinodoz
Reading French Psychoanalysis Edited by Dana Birksted-Breen, Sara Flanders and
Alain Gibeault
Reading Winnicott Lesley Caldwell and Angela Joyce
Initiating Psychoanalysis: Perspectives B ernard Reith, Sven Lagerlöf, Penelope Crick,
Mette Møller and Elisabeth Skale
Infant Observation Frances Salo
Reading Anna Freud Nick Midgley
TITLES IN THE NEW LIBRARY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
‘BEYOND THE COUCH’ SERIES
Under the Skin: A Psychoanalytic Study of Body Modifi cation Alessandra Lemma
Engaging with Climate Change: Psychoanalytic and Interdisciplinary Perspectives E dited
by Sally Weintrobe
Research on the Couch: Single Case Studies, Subjectivity, and Psychoanalytic Knowledge
R. D. Hinshelwood
Psychoanalysis in the Technoculture Era E dited by Alessandra Lemma and Luigi
Caparrotta
Moving Images: Psychoanalytic Refl ections on Film Andrea Sabbadini
Minding the Body
The body in psychoanalysis and beyond
Alessandra Lemma
